The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 19, 2024

Hat (Kalyeem)

Hat (Kalyeem)

possibly early 1900s

Did You Know?

The imported beads and shells on this hat were expensive, so they showed off its wearers' wealth.

Description

Kuba men (and some women) show their title and status with hats and hat accessories. The male owner of this heavily beaded and shell-covered hat (kalyeem) had a senior title. A simple coiled basketry hat forms its foundation (similar to 1915.465). Fabric panels stitched with zig-zagging white and blue beads edged in cowries hang from the top. White bead strands with cowrie shells flow downward, pushed out over the forehead by a large brim. Technically and aesthetically, beaded Kuba hats and masks have much in common; artists specializing in beading techniques had the skills to make both, using imported beads and shells.
  • ?-1998
    (Jacques Hautelet, La Jolla, CA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)
    1998-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, “Painting by 18th-century Italian Master Gaetano Gandolfi among Works Added to CMA Collection,” March 24, 1998, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    Sims, Lowery Stokes. The persistence of geometry: form, content, and culture in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006. p. 118, color repr. p. 36 & 53
  • The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).
    Main Gallery Rotation (gallery 108): May 11, 2010 - October 20, 2014.
  • {{cite web|title=Hat (Kalyeem)|url=false|author=|year=possibly early 1900s|access-date=19 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1998.29